Month: October 2015

A cinematic tract, a personal, activist work by a socially committed Québec filmmaker, this is a frontal assault, fraught with exacerbated emotion and concentrated philosophy, on a “consumer society” viewed as the ultimate embodiment of evil. This film was made during an exceptional, feverish period… Read More

By Karl Flecker Daniel is suffering from a repetitive strain injury. Working at Costco, stocking shelves, moving large boxes of everything he never eats, he jokes, is not what he planned to do with his European based training in logistics management. New to Canada, he… Read More

By Dan DiMaggio When a contract expires, the no-strike and binding arbitration clauses are no longer in effect. That means unions that keep working without a contract can strike over grievances that happen after contract expiration, as several Communications Workers locals at AT&T have done this… Read More

By Daniel Tseghay Yesterday, a new organization, the Coalition for Migrant Worker Rights – Canada (CMWRC), called on Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government to end the practice of tying migrant workers to specific employers. They’re kicking off the campaign, MoVE – Mobility, Voice and Equality for Migrant… Read More

by David Bush and Doug Nesbitt Canada Post management has just suspended its program of cutting home mail delivery in favour of “community mailboxes”. This is a huge victory and it’s worth celebrating. 22 months It all started nearly two years ago when Canada Post’s… Read More

By Daniel Tseghay On thursday, October 15, caregivers, members of the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU), and others, came together outside of Saint Elizabeth, a Vancouver home-care services provider. Eighty-nine home support workers are losing their jobs at the end of the month… Read More

By Daniel Tseghay In the year of Vancouver’s incorporation as a city in 1886, industrial unionists formed a local branch of the Knights of Labor. The union, which sponsored the Asiatic Exclusion League, played a prominent role in the riot that erupted the following year.… Read More

By Andrew Stevens Progressive parents and educators should be excited to learn that the repertoire of social justice texts aimed at children has been growing over the last few years. Hard Ball Press recently published a new addition to this list in 2015 titled Joelito’s… Read More

Accounting firm, KPMG, has been in the press lately. In September, allegations surfaced that KPMG had been involved in developing an offshore tax “sham” to help wealthy Canadian families avoid paying taxes. Two years ago the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) had even obtained a judicial… Read More

by David Bush and Doug Nesbitt So there we have it. Harper is gone. The Liberals surged from third place to win in this marathon election. The NDP, which was leading in the polls in August, slowly lost steam after they promised to prioritize balancing the… Read More

Call for Proposals 2016 Canadian Association for Work and Labour Studies annual conference Re-energizing Communities: Building Worker Solidarity and Social Justice University of Calgary June 1-2, 2016 As part of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences The conference organizing committee invites submissions for… Read More

By Scott Price The 2015 Canadian federal election is approaching its last days. Although the NDP has seen its support wane, the election will most likely be a close one. In Manitoba and Winnipeg the municipal, federal and upcoming provincial elections could signal the start of… Read More

By John DG 30 Norfinch Drive may not be the centre of the city, but right now you could call it the centre of the fight to decide wether hospitality jobs in the city of Toronto will be a path to the middle class or… Read More